BUSINESS

The cause of last week’s massive power outage in Spain and Portugal remains unclear but it has shone a spotlight on solar and wind energy, which critics accuse of straining electricity grids. The rise of renewables presents a challenge for power grids, which must evolve to adapt as countries move away from fossil fuels. Maintaining … Read more

From breathtaking snapshots of distant galaxies to game-changing discoveries about the universe’s expansion, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has dazzled humankind for 35 years. After launching on April 24, 1990, Hubble overcame early flaws to become one of NASA’s greatest triumphs. Its vivid images and countless scientific breakthroughs have reshaped our understanding of the cosmos, … Read more

Image used for representational purpose. | Photo Credit: S.R. Raghunathan The story so far: The office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Centre for Technology, Innovation, and Economic Research have released a detailed assessment of public-funded research and development in India. In all, 244 … Read more

In his 1997 book ‘Dominance Without Hegemony’, historian Ranajit Guha recounted how Mahatma Gandhi, “perhaps India’s foremost ideologue of self-discipline”, created an “elaborate” set of rules about how people should behave around him as they travelled the country. To Gandhi, Guha wrote, a haphazard crowd was “unmanageable”, “uncontrollable”, “undisciplined”, and ultimately entailed a “mobocracy”. Gandhi … Read more

The Voyager 1 spacecraft was 25 billion km away in February, somewhere in the outer edge of the solar system. It’s the farthest a human-made spacecraft has gone from the earth. The hope is that in the distant future, a human astronaut will be able to go where Voyager 1 has been — a journey … Read more

The Central government’s plans in the Nicobar Islands, especially land taken over for deforestation, will affect the native Shompen tribe, which needs forests for its livelihood. | Photo Credit: Public domain The famous tree crusader and tree lover Shri ‘Vanajeevi’ Ramaiah who passed away last month was a firm believer that trees are vital for … Read more

Fishers venture out to fish in mechanised boats in Mandapam North Sea, June 16, 2023, after the end of the 61-day fishing ban. | Photo Credit: Balachandar L./The Hindu The total allowable catch (TAC) is a limit on the total quantity of fish that fishers can catch in a particular area. It’s usual for agencies … Read more

Representative image. An American man named Timothy Friede has subjected himself to more than 200 snakebites and 700 injections of venom over 18 years. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto For millennia, there have been stories of people who tried to make themselves immune to poison by regularly ingesting small, non-lethal doses of it. The practice … Read more

Bird beaks come in almost every shape and size – from the straw-like beak of a hummingbird to the slicing, knife-like beak of an eagle. We have found, however, that this incredible diversity is underpinned by a hidden mathematical rule that governs the growth and shape of beaks in nearly all living birds. What’s more, … Read more